Lillie's Coffee Announces Closing - Landlord Issues

[TheCat]

Just outside the quiet courtyard by Lillie's Coffee Bar in Neptune Beach, Mayor Harriet Pruette marched intently toward City Hall, a phone pressed against her ear. She was trying to figure out why on earth such a popular place as Lillie's will soon be shutting its doors.
Even as she breezed past the cafe's doors, people gathered at the outside patio tables — coffee cups raised to their lips. Many of the guests buried themselves in textbooks, half-empty beverages waiting just within reach. Some chatted with their neighbors.

But soon, the friendly atmosphere may fizzle out as the courtyard becomes deprived of its anchor tenant.

Without any prior notice, the owners of the independent coffee bar at 200 First St. announced Thursday on their Facebook page that they will close Oct. 31. That day brings to an end a relationship with Neptune Beach that goes back more than five years — a time during which owners Debbie Criman and Katy Disch Millan said they measured Lillie's success by an outpouring of love from community members.

"It's just a shock," Pruette said. "Lillie's is a focal point for the area, for the young, the old and everyone in between. Whatever their differences are, maybe they can find a way to keep Lillie's going."

Lillie's was unable to agree on the terms for a new lease with The Courtyard at 200 First Street, the plaza's owner, according to property manager Kendra Robertson. Its lease expired in May, but The Courtyard placed Lillie's on a month-by-month contract until a new contract could be signed.

However, no such agreement ever came to fruition.

In a message to its customers, the coffee shop owners gave this explanation: "Why are we closing? Simply and sadly, we could not negotiate a lease with our landlord. If we can find a positive in our departure it will be because of YOU and your loyalty to us, and for that we are forever grateful."

Now, Robertson said, the Courtyard will most likely be looking for a new tenant to fill the spot after it is vacated. Once again, it will be a coffee bar. Prior to Lillie's, a coffee shop named Shelby's occupied the spot — once a hardware store and lumber yard — for approximately 10 years.

Architect Michael Dunlap designed the new complex. "When the lumberyard was renovated and converted to a mixed-use center in 2000, the economic pulse of the Beaches downtown migrated to 200 First Street," he said in an email. "The coffee shop ... quickly became the 'there there' in the neighborhood. We hope that there is still an 11th-hour solution to prevent the loss of Lillie's, which has become a principal part of the neighborhood fabric."

http://jacksonville.com/business/2015-10-15/story/popular-neptune-beach-coffee-bar-lillies-announces-abrupt-closing?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+JacksonvillecomBusiness+%28Business+news+from+Jacksonville+and+the+First+Coast+-+Jacksonville.com+and+The+Florida+Times-Union%29

[Sentient]

These "oh woes me muh [fill in the blank] is going away" stories are getting really old.  You had a 5 year lease.  You knew it was expiring in 5 years.  You had plenty of time to negotiate a new lease or find a new place.  You can probably continue on the current terms and raise your prices...  see how attached to the nostalgia your customers are then.

[Sentient]

These "oh woes me muh [fill in the blank] is going away" stories are getting really old.  You had a 5 year lease.  You knew it was expiring in 5 years.  You had plenty of time to negotiate a new lease or find a new place.  You can probably continue on the current terms and raise your prices...  see how attached to the nostalgia your customers are then.

does this come from your close acquaintance with either side of the deal, sentient?  Because that didn't seem to be the case for San Marco Panera either.

sometimes the tenant is a non payer (like latitude 30 apparently) and sometimes the landlord is just a greedy asshole.

Does it have to?  5 years is 5 years, it's not like they just discovered the date.

a word to would be's - negotiate an option for renewal at the time you do your first deal!  Leases and licenses are everything to restaurants.

[Sentient]

These "oh woes me muh [fill in the blank] is going away" stories are getting really old.  You had a 5 year lease.  You knew it was expiring in 5 years.  You had plenty of time to negotiate a new lease or find a new place.  You can probably continue on the current terms and raise your prices...  see how attached to the nostalgia your customers are then.

does this come from your close acquaintance with either side of the deal, sentient?  Because that didn't seem to be the case for San Marco Panera either.

sometimes the tenant is a non payer (like latitude 30 apparently) and sometimes the landlord is just a greedy asshole.

Does it have to?  5 years is 5 years, it's not like they just discovered the date.

a word to would be's - negotiate an option for renewal at the time you do your first deal!  Leases and licenses are everything to restaurants.

If you read the article, you will see that they tried to for quite a while before the end of the lease.  If they have been there for 5 years, that means that they opened in 2010, a little more than two years after the economy cratered.

So I take it that you aren't really privy to either side of the negotiation?

No and it still doesn't matter...  If you are and you have something to say, say it.  Otherwise I look forward to the poist in 3 months of a "Cool New Coffee Place Opening in AB(!!!! can't forget the exclamation points)" in this very same space...  Imagine that?

[peestandingup]

Didn't Lillie's change ownership a couple years ago? Or maybe I'm thinking of before it used to be Lillie's. Whoever it was, I bought their old Grindmaster industrial bean grinder for basically nothing.

Anyways, sounds like they just wanted out. I mean, if its popular and they're still wanting to do it, then why not lease another location if it was strictly the landlord?